Summary: A highly recommended guide to getting and keeping your tax affairs in order. It's as simple to use as it could be and with a cover price of less than £10 it's a small investment which could save substantial sums.

I doubt that there's anyone who genuinely looks forward to completing a Tax Return. Even as an ex-Inspector of Taxes I'll freely admit that the thought of it fills me with dread. It's tedious, but important that you don't get it wrong. So, what do you do? Professional assistance can be expensive and isn't necessarily entirely reliable. You can go along to your H M Revenue and Customs Enquiry Centre, but their function is to answer your queries rather than give advice about where you could minimise your tax bill. Going it alone is free, but you need to have comprehensive knowledge of taxation to be sure that you're paying the correct amount of tax. The Daily Mail Tax Guide 2008/2009 will give most people all the information that they need to ensure that they're getting it right.

Taxation is complicated and each year's Budget seems to make it more so, but this book does an excellent job of reducing the subject to the essentials. The format is very user-friendly and easy to follow. It shows you how you can legitimately save money on tax, with more than a hundred tax-saving tips. Completing a Tax Return is obviously the major task and there's a guide to help you do this along with pointers to alert you to common errors. You'll quickly be able to work out whether or not you're entitled to a rebate and to check your tax coding if you're employed.

There are helpful examples which build up as you go along, making the points very easy to follow. Some of the issues which are covered are complicated but they're presented in a way which anyone can follow rather than just the tax professional. The mystique of taxation is stripped away. Unless you are an employed person receiving no other benefits and with no other savings then it's likely that there will be something in this book from which you can benefit and with a cover price of less than £10 it's a small investment to make.

The book doesn't just cover taxation from the point of view of the employed or self-employed person. It also covers the complicated tax credits system and Inheritance Tax along with Capital Gains Tax. Last year's guide was impressive but this guide also covers the far-reaching tax changes introduced in April 2008 and there are some completely new chapters on the family and retirement.

I showed the guide to two current tax professionals and both were impressed. They thought it interesting, informative and helpful – in fact it wasn't THAT easy to get the book back. They had just one minor criticism to make and that was an implication that H M Revenue and Customs is out to collect as much tax as possible, rather than the correct amount due under the law which both assure me is as much the case now as it was when I was a part of the system.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

You can read more book reviews or buy Daily Mail Tax Guide 2008/2009 by Jane Vass at Amazon.co.uk

You can read more book reviews or buy Daily Mail Tax Guide 2008/2009 by Jane Vass at Amazon.com.